Automatic still image transmission upon call connection

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure describes a system and method for selecting and transmitting a still image in a telephone network. A series of images is stored in at least one storage unit coupled to the network, each image associated with a particular customer in the network. Upon the placement of a call, the system will automatically select and transmit the calling party&#39;s image to the called party&#39;s video telephone or terminal prior to or during the ringing sequence, or after the calling party has answered.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to image transmission in a telecommunicationsnetwork, and more particularly to automatic still image selection andtransmission upon the placement of a call to a video telephone orterminal.

Various forms of video telephones, multimedia terminals and relatedimage transmission systems have been introduced in recent years and arein use today using standard telephone networks. Customers with the rightequipment (voice/camera/screen units) can communicate by image as wellas by voice, although often with some compromise in picture resolutionor image transmission speed due to bandwidth limitations in some areasof the network. A video telephone system is disclosed, by way ofexample, in Komatsu et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,521.

To partially compensate for limitation in network bandwidth, variousdata compression and other schemes have bee proposed. Nevertheless,image "jerkiness" and some delay are still the characteristics oftoday's video telephones. In addition, the called party normally is notable to view the image of the calling party before the call is answered,which means that calls cannot be screened on the basis of incomingvisual information. Brandon et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,303 discloses asystem for interactive retrieval of still frame video images, but thesystem requires the use of a separate television transmission system andstandard television receivers to view the image, and is not designed todisplay the image immediately upon telephone call connection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Although "caller ID" equipment now permits call screening based on thecalling party's number, a useful extension of this concept would be asystem that permitted call screening based upon the calling party'simage, whether it be the image of a person, a corporate logo or otherimage preselected by the calling party as a type of telephonic "callingcard".

A further useful extension of caller ID and related features would be asystem located within a telephone network (either in a central office orelsewhere) that stored and maintained for immediate transmission a largedata base of images preselected by all users in the network, whichsystem would automatically select and transmit to the called party anappropriate image (such as of the calling party) as soon as an initialconnection has been established.

In accordance with the present disclosure, customers withtelecommunication equipment that can receive images are provisioned toreceive an image in association with a call. The image is delivered froman image node within a telecommunication network. Each image isassociated with the telephone number of a customer in the network.

In one embodiment, upon detection of an initiated call, thetelecommunication system accesses the image node, selects an imageassociated with the calling party, and transmits the selected image tothe called party, as appropriate. The transmission occurs before, duringor after the called party's terminal has begun to ring. In this way, theimage appears (or at least begins to appear) at the called party'sterminal even before the called party has taken the receiver off-hook orotherwise answered the call. After the called party has answered, thecalling party's image may continue to be transmitted, if necessary,until maximum resolution at the called party's terminal has beenreached.

If the calling party's equipment has image transmission capability, asthe call continues, the image may be periodically or continuallyrefreshed with "live" image data received from the calling party'sterminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a simplified version of a conventional telephone networkincluding central office switches 20 and 25. Terminals 10 and 80, whichmay be equipped with a screen and which may also include a camera 12,82, respectively, and a local image memory unit 14, 84, respectively,for storing still frame images captured by the camera, are connected toswitches 20 and 25 respectively. None of the elements 12, 14, 82 and 84is required.

As used in this disclosure, "image" means any visual material capable ofbeing depicted on a screen.

Once switching and other circuitry within a central office hasidentified the calling terminal and called terminal, an available paththen is located and a connection is established between both terminals,which may then be followed by the generation and transmission of a ringsignal to the called terminal. If both terminals are capable of imagecommunication, a direct image connection will then normally beestablished as soon as the called party answers. It is important,however, to note that the present disclosure does not require theestablishment of a direct visual communication link between the twoterminals; only the establishment of a visual link to the calledterminal.

In accordance with the present disclosure, at least one image processor60 is included within the network of FIG. 1. The location within thenetwork is not critical; processor 60 could be located almost anywhere,either as a stand-alone unit or within one of the central offices, aslong as a visual communication link can be established between theprocessor that services the calling terminal and the called terminal 80.Processor 60 is described in more detail below.

Also, in accordance with the present disclosure, coupled to processor 60is an image storage unit 50 for storing a database of preselected,digitized images. Storage unit 50 may be any conventional mass storagememory device such as a disk drive or server, and the images may be anystill (video or otherwise) images.

In normal operation, it is anticipated that image storage unit 50 willcontain a database of images preselected by the customers served byprocessor 60. For example, each customer may preselect an image that he,she or it wishes to be stored in the database as a "telephone callingcard" or greeting card that may be used to identify the caller. Inaddition, a corporate customer may desire to store a corporate logo orother image to identify the corporate entity upon the placement of acall. More than one image, such as a corporate presentation slide show,may, of course, be selected by each customer and stored in the databasedepending on the capabilities of the image storage unit 50 and processor60. It is anticipated that images typically will be stored in thedatabase at the customer's direction either prior to the placement of acall or perhaps at an "off peak" time when no particular call is beingplaced but the customer desires to update his, her or its image forfuture use.

The image transmission system (processor 60 with image storage 50 orotherwise) would, most likely, be closely tied to the manner ofgenerating the electronic signals that represent the image in anelectronic image file. One readily available mechanism (and associatedcoding and protocol) is facsimile (fax). Either black-and-white or colorfax can be used to create the electronic image file. Another mechanismis electronic mail for sending a file previously created by a document/image scanner. For example, a conventional photograph of a customercould be scanned by the customer (either personally or by a third party)and then sent to the image transmission system, or the customer couldmake other arrangements for a digitized image (perhaps generated by anelectronic camera) to be sent.

Of course, any conventional facsimile or electronic mail format can beemployed to transmit the image data to the image transmission system,and such data can be kept in the image storage 50 either in thetransmitted format or in some other preselected format.

Also, just as image sequences can be stored, as indicated above, toprovide a slide shown, a selectable plurality of images can be storedwhich allows each user to customize his, her or its image(s) to thecalled party. Selection of images is achieved by the calling partysending a control signal, for example at the end of the called numbersequence. The sequence may be, for instance, "#9" for business attireand "#8" for beach attire. With another controlled sequence, such as"#99", the customer can cause processor 60 to block transmission of allimages.

The data contained within database 50 need not be only image data. Forexample, associated with each image could be test characters such as thename of the person associated with the image, the telephone number orother identifying information, or a visual or voice greeting. Inaddition, associated with a corporate logo image could be an advertisingmessage or some other corporate "calling card" type message that wouldappear on the screen of the called party upon call connection. Such amessage could also be aural.

Returning to processor 60 (FIG. 1), this element, in a preferredembodiment, comprises a general purpose digital computer, amicroprocessor or digital signal processor that performs severalfunctions. First, processor 60 generates a unique signal immediatelyupon detection of an incoming call from central office 20 thatidentifies the particular calling terminal (in this case terminal 10).The processor could either make such determination directly usingautomatic number identification (ANI) or "caller ID" means, or processor60 could generate a signal in response to a number-identification signalgenerated elsewhere in the network, such as by an ANI unit in centraloffice 20. In either case, the signal generated by processor 60 is usedto locate the address of the customer image data, stored in imagestorage unit 50, that is associated with the particular callingterminal. Such image data could be unique to that particular terminal,or could be shared among several terminals. Once located, the data isread out of the image storage unit by processor 60 and automaticallysent through the network to the called terminal 80 immediately upon theestablishment of an available path (network line) to called terminal 80by switching circuits in central office 20 or 25. Data may be read outdirectly, or encoded in some fashion, depending upon the capabilities ofthe receiving terminal and of the network. Processor 60 could beprogrammed to begin transmission of the image data at any of severaltimes in the calling sequence, such as (1) immediately upon theestablishment of an available path to the called terminal (even prior tofirst ring); (2) simultaneously with the transmission of the first ringsignal; (3) some period of time before or after the transmission of thefirst ring; (4) immediately upon detection of an off-hook condition atthe receiving terminal (i.e., upon answer); or (5) some period of timeafter off-hook has been detected.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, acentral office 20 of a conventional telephone network containsconventional telephone switching circuits 35 for voice and datatransmission over the network. A plurality of individual customer videotelephones, personal computers or other conventional voice/ imageterminals 10, 80 are connected to the central office. As in FIG. 1, itis assumed that terminal 10 is a calling party's terminal and terminal80 is a called party's terminal.

A voice/ data switching circuit 35 for establishing a connection betweenthe calling terminal and the called terminal, and an automatic numberidentification (ANI) unit 30, for identifying the particular phonenumber of an incoming call to the central office, are typically foundwithin the central office 20. In addition, a ring generator 40 typicallywill be coupled to the switching circuit to generate a conventionalringing signal as soon as the switching circuit has established aconnection to a called party's terminal 80.

In accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2, there is also locatedwithin the central office an image storage unit 50 for storing adatabase of digitized images. Each customer or terminal may be assignedat least one image. Such images could either be preselected bycustomers, or could be selected from a set of acceptable or pre-approvedalternatives. It should also be understood, that storage unit 50 neednot be physically located within the central office but may be elsewherein the network, as in FIG. 1.

Coupled to storage unit 50 and to ANI 30 is an image select and refreshunit 55. Image select and refresh unit 55 may be a conventional tablelook-up or other addressing device under hardware or software control,the primary function of which is to address the storage unit 50, uponreceipt of a signal from ANI 30 and under control of at least oneprocessor 60, to select a particular portion of image data that isassociated with the telephone number identified by ANI 30.

A secondary function of image select and refresh unit 55 is to causecurrent or "live" image data to be written into storage unit 50 uponreceipt of a signal from the calling party at terminal 10. Such datacould, for example, represent a recent still frame image captured bycamera 12 during a conversation, or could represent a different image ina series of preselected images, such as in a slide show during acorporate presentation.

As shown in FIG. 2, coupled to the input of image select and refreshunit 55 is an optional image encoder 65. The function of image encoder65 is to encode or convert the customer images into compact orcompressed digital data sets that are better suited to transmission overa telephone network of limited bandwidth. Image encoder 65 may, forexample, be comprised of a system such as that shown in Bheda et al.U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,855, which is hereby incorporated by reference.Decoding of the data stream may be accomplished at the called party'sterminal 80 to reconstruct the image. Image encoder 65 is not, ofcourse, required if network bandwidth and terminal capacity are suchthat image transmission can take place without compression.

Further elements of FIG. 2 include a multiplexer 70 coupled to imageencoder 65 and switching circuits 35, and a processor 60 coupled to theimage encoder, to image select and refresh unit 55, to ANI 30, toswitching circuits 35 and to ring generator 40. The function ofprocessor 60 is to control the sequence and timing of image dataaddressing, refreshing, encoding, and transmission, as will be describedin more detail below. The function of multiplexer 70 is to enable themultiplexed transmission of image data with the ring and voice signals,as will be described in more detail below.

The operation of the present disclosure will now be described, withparticular attention to FIG. 2. First, a calling party at terminal 10places a call in an attempt to reach a party at terminal 80. Inconventional fashion, incoming dialed digits are received within thecentral office 20. Upon completion of the dial sequence, the incomingnumber is identified by ANI unit 30, the dialed terminal 80 isidentified by switching circuits 35, and the switching circuits attemptto locate an available path and establish a network link to the dialedterminal. Upon locating an available path and determining that thedialed terminal is connected and in an on-hook condition, the switchingcircuits initiate a ring sequence through ring generator 40, whichsequence continues until the called party answers.

In accordance with FIG. 2, as soon as the number of the calling terminalhas been identified by ANI unit 30, a signal is sent to image select andrefresh unit 55 that initiates an addressing sequence to locate withinimage storage unit 50 the appropriate portion of image data (whether oneframe or a series of frames) that is associated with the calling number.This addressing sequence may take place simultaneously with, before orafter the network link has been established and the ringing sequence hasbegun. In a preferred embodiment, the addressing sequence is begunimmediately upon identification of the calling terminal's number, sothat the processing of image data may begin as quickly as possible.

Upon locating the image data associated with the calling terminal, imageselect and refresh unit 55, under the control of processor 60, reads thedata out of storage unit 50 for sending over the network.

As soon as an available path has been located and a connection to thecalled terminal has been established by switching circuit 35, a ringsequence is normally initiated by ring generator 40. In accordance withthe present disclosure, as soon as processor 60 detects that switchingcircuits 35 have established a link between the calling and calledterminals, processor 60 begins to transmit, or to prepare the image datafor transmission, over the link. This transmission could begin evenbefore ring generator 40 transmits the first ring signal to calledterminal 80, or it could be done simultaneously with the first ring orafter a preselected number or rings. In one embodiment, imagetransmission is begun prior to the first ring, to enable an image to beformed at the called terminal as quickly as possible. In anotherembodiment, processor 60 multiplexes the image data with the ring signalthrough multiplexer 70 over the connected line to terminal 80, beginningwith the first ring. After the called party has answered, and if theimage data has not yet been completely transmitted, the image data willbe multiplexed with voice signals, and will continue to be transmitted,under the control of processor 60.

At or prior to the beginning of the ringing sequence, processor 60begins transmitting data in conjunction with the ring signal generatedat ring generator 40 through multiplexer 70 to the called party atterminal 80. Depending upon available bandwidth in the network, thereceived image initially may have a course resolution, and then laterbecome finer and finer. Alternatively, a fine-resolution image mayappear at the called terminal at a speed compatible with the availablebandwidth. As the ringing continues, the image received at terminal 80may be updated with refreshed image data, if such data has been receivedinto image storage unit 50 from the calling terminal or another sourcein the interim. This refreshed image may, unless blocked by the callingparty, be a series of still images continuously or periodicallytransmitted from the calling party's terminal 10 to database 50. Therefresh rate is, of course, dependent upon the bandwidth of the networkas well as the speed of the processor 60 and image encoder 65.

In another embodiment of the invention, an image post-processor (notshown) may be coupled between processor 60 and an optional multiplexer70 in FIG. 2 to add additional image processing functions prior totransmission over the network. For example, the image may be translatedor reformatted so as to be compatible with the particular transmissionmedia being employed at the time. In addition, data may be added to orsubtracted from the image under the control of processor 60, such as avoice greeting, a name, phone number or a visual greeting. Also, theimage may or may not be sent in conjunction with a ring signal.

One of the advantages of the present disclosure is the ability of thesystem to alert the called party to the image of the calling party veryearly in the calling sequence. The image could be displayed at thecalling party's terminal even before the first ring is sounded at thecalling party's terminal. Alternatively, the image could appear on thescreen simultaneously with the first ring or with some subsequent ring,at some predetermined interval after the ringing has begun, or after thecalled party has answered. This allows the called party to screen thecall depending upon the particular image, which advantageously permitsthe called party to dispense with the need to memorize the telephonenumbers of calling individuals. In addition, by starting imagetransmission prior to or during ringing, it is likely that, by the timethe called party has answered the call, enough time will have elapsed topermit the system to transmit and reconstruct a relativelyhigh-resolution image at the called terminal, even if network bandwidthis limited.

Thus, there is disclosed a system for selecting and transmitting a stillimage in response to an incoming call from a terminal or video phone andtransmitting such image to the called party immediately upon theestablishment of a network link between the calling party to the calledparty. It should, of course, be understood that while the presentdisclosure has been described in reference to illustrative embodiments,other arrangements may be apparent to those of ordinary skill in theart. For example, image storage unit 50 could be located anywhere in thenetwork or even within the called terminal 80 or the calling terminal10, depending upon the amount of memory available. Such local storagecould store a subset of images customized for that particular terminal,such as images of frequent callers.

I claim:
 1. An image transmission system comprising:memory for storingimage data; at least one processor coupled to said memory; andconnection means interposed between said processor and atelecommunications network to which a called party and a calling partyare coupled, that is adapted to transmit signals from said memory tosaid called party, where said processor, in response to signals receivedfrom said calling party that request connection to said called party,retrieves image data from said memory and forwards said image data tosaid connection means.
 2. The system of claim 1 in which said calledterminal comprises a video telephone.
 3. The system of claim 1 in whichsaid network comprises a telephone network.
 4. The system of claim 1 inwhich said image data comprises preselected portions of data, eachportion associated with a calling terminal.
 5. The system of claim 4 inwhich each said portion is transmitted to said memory via facsimile. 6.The system of claim 4 in which each said portion is transmitted to saidmemory via electronic mail.
 7. The system of claim 1 in which saidtransmission of said image data occurs simultaneously with a ringsignal.
 8. The system of claim 1 in which said transmission of saidimage data occurs prior to a first ring signal.
 9. The system of claim 1in which said image data is selected by said calling party prior totransmission to said called party.
 10. The system of claim 9 in whichsaid image data is selected by the calling party using a predeterminedcode.
 11. The system of claim 1 in which said image data is stored insaid memory in a preselected facsimile format.
 12. The system of claim 1in which said image data is stored in said memory in a preselectedelectronic mail format.
 13. An image selection and transmission systemcomprising:identifying means coupled to a telephone network foridentifying a calling terminal and a called terminal; switch meanscoupled to said network for establishing a ring connection to saidcalled terminal and a visual communication connection between saidcalling terminal and said called terminal; storage means coupled to saidnetwork for storing preselected portions of image data, each portionassociated with one said calling terminal; selector means coupled tosaid identifying means and to said storage means for selecting a portionof said image data associated with said calling terminal upon receipt ofa signal from said identifying means; and processor means coupled tosaid coding means, to said identifying means and to said switch meansfor automatically initiating a flow of said data stream to said calledterminal upon the establishment of said ring connection, and forcontinuing the flow of said data stream upon the establishment of saidcommunication connection.
 14. The system of claim 13 in which said flowof said data stream is initiated prior to the generation of a first ringsignal during said ring connection.
 15. The system of claim 13 in whichsaid flow of said data stream is completed prior to the generation of afirst ring signal during said ring connection.
 16. The system of claim13 further including coding means coupled to an input of said selectormeans for encoding said image data prior to storage in said storagemeans.
 17. The system of claim 13 in which said calling terminal isarranged to permit a calling party to block transmission of said datastream.
 18. A method of selecting and transmitting an image to aterminal over a telephone network, comprising the steps of:storingimages in a database, each image associated with a terminal in saidnetwork; identifying a terminal that is attempting to establish aconnection to another terminal in said network; selecting the image thatis associated with said calling terminal; establishing a connectionbetween said calling terminal and said called terminal; and initiatingtransmission of said data stream to said called terminal over saidnetwork upon the establishment of said connection.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, in which said transmission of said data stream precedes thetransmission of a ringing signal.
 20. The method of claim 18 furtherincluding the step of encoding said images prior to storing said imagesin said database.